“G’night,” he said.
On her way to the door she paused. “Good night, Malachi.”
Malachi nodded, and she left, trailing nutmeg and contentment. Aaron drew a breath to savor the scent while it lasted. The door opened and shut. The truck started, and the sound of the engine faded down the long driveway.
Malachi cocked his head at Ember’s rearrangement of his furniture. With one arm he dragged the chair back to its place and then dropped into it. “You asleep yet?”
“Just about.”
“We need to talk, but it can wait if it has to.”
“You’ll mull it while you sleep, and it’ll turn into something massive.”
Mal gave a low, amused rumble. His head tilted back, and his body seemed to sink into the chair. He hadn’t lost a drop of blood tonight, but he’d tended a wounded friend and euthanized a bear with his hands. He must be tired too.
“Talk in the morning,” Aaron said.
“It’s about Ember. You and Ember.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“I’m not convinced.”
Aaron sighed. “Mal, there’s nothing to say. She’s leaving.”
“It’s still on you.”
They were too tired for this, but he tried anyway. “I don’t know what you’re… Wait, the scent change?”
Another rumble, this one affirmation.
“Come on. It doesn’t mean anything. Attraction, that’s all. So what.”
“Is that the truth, or do you want it to be the truth?”
Crap. Aaron hunched forward and hid his face in his hands. Trying to fool any wolf was generally fruitless, but trying to fool a wolf and friend of fourteen years was an exercise in futility. He had known his hours were numbered for Malachi to figure it out.
“Aaron, I want to know what’s in your head.”
“She’s mine,” Aaron blurted. “Ember is mine.” He lifted his head when Malachi gave no response. “When did you know?”
“Your scent was a clue, but I wasn’t sure until you tried to acclimate her and didn’t have to. Cassius told me once that the same thing happened when he tried to acclimate Sydney, and the lore confirms it as typical.”
Aaron growled and hid his face again. Of course Malachi hadn’t pushed him, hadn’t spelled it out but instead let Aaron discover his mate for himself. Of course Cassius had done the same. And of course Jeremy hadn’t seen the point in that approach.
“What’s the problem?” Malachi said.
Aaron laughed, a hopeless sound. He lifted his head. So they were going to talk about it. Might as well. “She’s not Sydney. She’s got no ties to a wolf pack, no interest in forming any.”
“Other mates came here by choice with no ties other than their own wolf,” Malachi said. “Ann, Nicole, even Lucy. Sydney’s being raised here is hardly the rule. Besides, Ember has the pup. You said yourself she’s devoted to him.”
“So she’ll visit. Doesn’t mean she’ll leave an established life to become my mate. Good green earth, her best friend of eighteen years is a vampire.”
He shouldn’t have said that. Malachi’s eyes flickered, their amber color enhancing the feral gleam. “The woman who called you.”
“Yeah.”
“An odd wrinkle.” Malachi retreated into his thoughts for a minute and then, just as Aaron opened his mouth to suggest they both go to bed, shrugged his hulking shoulders. “Lucy dated a vampire before she met Jeremy.”
